Jeff Gordon gets 80th career pole, qualifies first at Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Though it likely won't mean much in the constantly shuffling draft at Talladega Superspeedway, Jeff Gordon will start first at Sunday's GEICO 500 after winning the pole in Saturday's qualifying session.
Gordon won his 80th career pole position by a whopping 0.28 second ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne. The future Hall of Famer picked up his third pole of the season and remained third on the all-time poles list.
"Awesome for Hendrick Motorsports to be on the front row," Gordon said. "This was all them. I played a small role at Daytona (when he won the pole in February), but I played no role today. But it was fun."
Wood Brothers Racing driver Ryan Blaney was third, followed by three other Hendrick-powered cars: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart.
Paul Menard, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top 10.
"I didn't think I could beat Jeff, but I thought I could get up there on the front row with him," Kahne, who earned his highest starting spot of the season, said.
The qualifying session was a throwback to the days of single-car runs — not the knockout-style format NASCAR had used for the last two years.
Officials changed the format for Talladega and Daytona International Speedway after several fiascos in group qualifying at the restrictor-plate tracks. On Saturday, cars were released at timed intervals and allowed to complete one lap; the fastest 12 moved on to a final session.
Without the draft or pack to help speeds, that left the outcome in the crews' hands — not the driver.
"About 99% of it is what the car is capable of doing," Sam Hornish Jr. said after qualifying 12th.
"You want to win every day, you want to win every practice session, every qualifying session," said Brad Keselowski, who qualified 15th. "But if there's a track where that matters the least, it's probably Talladega come Sunday."
Michael McDowell and Jeb Burton failed to qualify for the race.
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PHOTOS: Behind the wheel with Jeff Gordon
GEICO 500 Lineup
Saturday qualifying's results at 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway (car number in parentheses):
1. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 194.793.
2. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 193.685.
3. (21) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 193.611.
4. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 193.599.
5. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 193.427.
6. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 193.419.
7. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 193.412.
8. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 193.357.
9. (18) David Ragan, Toyota, 193.006.
10. (15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 192.808.
11. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 192.703.
12. (9) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 192.343.
13. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 192.792.
14. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 192.789.
15. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 192.777.
16. (33) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 192.765.
17. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 192.738.
18. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 192.715.
19. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 192.68.
20. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 192.672.
21. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 192.622.
22. (19) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 192.587.
23. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 192.181.
24. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 192.05.
25. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 191.835.
26. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 191.727.
27. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 191.627.
28. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 191.616.
29. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 191.581.
30. (40) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 191.497.
31. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 191.252.
32. (32) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 191.176.
33. (62) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 191.016.
34. (98) Josh Wise, Ford, 190.757.
35. (51) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 190.738.
36. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 190.715.
37. (7) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Owner Points.
38. (34) Chris Buescher, Ford, Owner Points.
39. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, Owner Points.
40. (46) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, Owner Points.
41. (35) Cole Whitt, Ford, Owner Points.
42. (23) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, Owner Points.
43. (83) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, Owner Points.
Failed to Qualify
44. (95) Michael McDowell, Ford, 189.444.
45. (26) Jeb Burton, Toyota, 188.98.